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A new Virtual Institute, which will make use of plasma wakefields, is to be established at DESY (DeutschesElektronen-Synchrotron(German Electron Synchrotron)). The newly established Virtual Institute “Plasma wakefield acceleration of highly relativistic electrons with FLASH” will do basic research to explore the possibilities of using the extremely high electric fields created in a plasma to reliably […]

The US military are developing a new weapon which might soon be making science fiction enthusiasts’ dreams come true. The device will shoot lightning bolts down laser beams to destroy its targets. Laser and plasma weapons feature in a wide number of science fiction universes. The phasers of Star Trek and blasters used in Star […]

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has finally been given the go ahead by French authorities. The ITER organisation received a letter from the French Safety Authority, Agence de sûreté nucléaire (ASN), on 20 June 2012 which granted a license to build an experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor in the south of France. ITER is a […]

A team of engineers and scientists have developed concept vehicles for a crewed round trip to Mars using fusion power for in-space propulsion. Members of UAHuntsville, NASA’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Wisconsin have identified Z-pinch and Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) as two promising techniques for using fusion power for […]

The current status of the field of plasma researched has been mapped in a special collection of articles for Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, published by IOP Publishing. The collection has been compiled by Uwe Czarnetzki of the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany. He has devoted his working life to the science and applications of plasmas. A […]

A number of US scientist are actively working on a plasma based toothbrush. Initially, the work is focused on dental treatment where the Plasma Toothbrush disinfect and cleans out cavities, kills bacteria and forms a better bond for the fillings without resulting in any feeling of pain. A group at Missouri is working on such […]